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He has received scorn from the out leadership hopefuls (Picture: Getty Images)

Labour leadership candidate Jeremy Corbyn has been causing a stir (again) after being accused of seeking to restore the party’s historic commitment to the public ownership of industry.

His leadership rivals Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall saying he is trying to ‘turn back the clock’ after he hinted at re-instating Clause IV, which enshrined ‘common ownership of the means of production’ in the party’s constitution.

However the veteran left-winger’s team later issued a ‘clarification’ insisting he was not advocating a return to Clause IV – famously scrapped by Tony Blair 20 years ago in one of the defining moments of his leadership.

It was confirmed that Mr Corbyn would seek to open up a discussion about ‘public ownership objectives for the 21st century’ – including the railways – if he won the race to succeed Ed Miliband.

His words were seized on by Ms Cooper who said that Labour did not need a return to ‘the days of British Leyland’ – the nationalised car manufacturer which became a byword for shoddy products and industrial strife.

‘Labour needs radical ideas for the future, not to turn the clock back. We’ve always been a progressive party that’s embraced the future – this is not the time to be reactionary and cling to the past,’ she said.

Ms Kendall – the leadership challenger seen as being the closest to Mr Blair’s policies – said Mr Corbyn represented a throwback to the failed ideas of left-wingers like the late Tony Benn.

‘This shows there is nothing new about Jeremy Corbyn’s politics. It is just Bennism reheated, a throwback to the past, not the change we need for our party or our country,’ she said.

‘Life had moved on from the old Clause IV in 1994 let alone 2015. We are a party of the future, not a preservation society.’